Cardinals down Bulldogs; Area prep football roundup

Under the Friday Night Lights, three of the five area football teams recorded wins in the first full week of action. Newton and Baxter, which played 8-man action for the first time, won on the road. Lynnville-Sully downed fellow Jasper County team Colfax-Mingo and Prairie City-Monroe took a tough loss on the road.

Newton 42, Ottumwa 7

OTTUMWA — Under the direction of senior quarterback Garrett Sturtz, Newton High’s offense clicked more often than not in the 2017 season opening football game Friday night. Sturtz had three rushing touchdowns and threw for another in a 42-7 win over host Ottumwa.

Senior running backs Josh Miravalles, Jaron Roush and Carson Cazett along with juniors Josh Miller and Logan Cummins powered the Cardinal offense. Miravalles finished off two touchdown drives with scores and had more than 100 yards rushing. Roush didn’t make it into the end zone, but set up two TDs with long runs.

Cazett, Miller and Cummins picked up yardage when needed and delivered on the power-running game for Newton.

Ottumwa opened the game with a drive to the Newton 24-yard line before the Cardinal defense halted the Bulldogs on a fourth-and-seven play. With 6:23 left on the first-quarter clock, the Cardinals used a nine-play, 76-yard drive to score.

Sturtz completed a 21-yard pass to senior split end Trevor Ergenbright on a third down play to kick the drive off. Sturtz finished it on a 30-yard TD run. Senior Zach Combs, who would hit six extra points on the night, kicked the first one through the uprights.

Newton’s second TD of the night was set up by a blocked punt courtesy of senior nose guard Landon Hansen. Sturtz tossed a 6-yard TD pass to Ergenbright. The Cardinals led 14-0 at halftime.

The Cardinals took the second-half kickoff and quickly moved down the field on runs by Miravalles and a 47-yard dash by Roush. Miravalles scored from two yards out.

The Cardinal defense forced another Bulldog punt to set the offense up at the Ottumwa 40. Three plays later, Sturtz went 28 yards for a TD. The Cardinals recovered a fumble at the Bulldog 7-yard line but came away empty with 2:17 left in the third quarter.

Newton held the Bulldogs at bay once again and had the ball back at the Ottumwa 37 with 11 seconds remaining in the third quarter. After a few penalties, Newton punched it in on another Miravalles 2-yd run.

The Bulldogs trailed 35-0 and finally got on the scoreboard. Quarterback Addison Coram found Jayqwan Bridges open down the sideline for an 84-yard TD strike. It was 35-7.

Newton finished with an eight-play drive resulting in a Sturtz 9-yard TD run.

The Cardinals (1-0) travel to Waterloo East next Friday.

Newton’s freshman lost 38-14 Friday at Ottumwa.

Lynnville-Sully 49, Colfax-Mingo 17

COLFAX — The Hawks won the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball, rushing for 252 yards and holding the Tigerhawks to 21 yards on the ground on Friday night.

Colfax-Mingo senior Reegan Van Dyke threw for 166 yards and two scores, but Lynnville-Sully used a quick-strike offense to gain momentum in the first half.

The Hawks (1-0) scored four touchdowns in the first half and each scoring drive covered five plays or less.

The Hawks used eight different ball carriers in the game. Five of them scored touchdowns.

Tyson Vander Linden scored once on the ground and another through the air from quarterback Elijah Collins. Gage Vander Leest also scored once on the ground and another time on a 30-yard punt return in the third quarter to put the Hawks up 36-10.

Lynnville-Sully scored first on its second possession of the game. Senior Brevin Hansen capped a five-play, 44-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.

The Tigerhawks fumbled away their next possession on the second play of their second drive of the game. One play, Collins hit Vander Linden on a 24-yard touchdown strike to put the Hawks up 13-0.

Colfax-Mingo (0-2) got on the board on its next possession. The Tigerhawks marched 73 yards in eight plays. Van Dyke connected with senior Alex Lewis for 15 yards on third and nine and then junior Damir Gumerov converted a punt fake with a 7-yard run on fourth and two.

On the next play, Van Dyke hit a wide open Zarek Hill for a 44-yard touchdown to make it 13-7. Hill suffered a concussion later in the game and did not return. His status for next week's game was unknown at press time.

Lynnville-Sully answered the Tigerhawk touchdown with a four-play, 45-yard scoring drive. A bulk of those yards came on a Nate Stock 28-yard touchdown run.

The Hawks' next possession also started in Colfax-Mingo territory. This time, they strolled 44 yards in four plays and Vander Linden capped the drive with a 17-yard TD run.

Colfax-Mingo sophomore Brady Berkey sent the Tigerhawks into the locker room at halftime down 28-10 after he buried a 37-yard field goal with 5 seconds on the clock.

Vander Leest extended the Hawks' lead to 36-10 in the third quarter when he fielded a short punt at the Tigerhawk 30-yard line and sprinted to the end zone for the score. The ball bounced backwards after it landed and Vander Leest caught it, made one cut and hit paydirt a few seconds later.

Another short drive allowed the Hawks to push the lead to 43-10. The visitors went 40 yards in six plays and Vander Leest capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run.

The Hawks' longest possession came on their final scoring drive. Lynnville-Sully marched 68 yards in 10 plays to go up 49-10. The drive included runs of 17 and 22 yards by Vander Leest, who finished the game at quarterback, and Evan Squires got into the scoring mix with a 2-yard touchdown run.

The Tigerhawks ended the scoring with 54 seconds to play in the game. Van Dyke capped a six-play, 46-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to junior Holister Koenig.

Squires led the Hawks with 77 rushing yards on 12 carries. Sage Zylstra added 56 yards on 11 carries, and Vander Leest had 45 yards on six carries.

Zylstra led the Hawk defense with eight tackles and one sack.

Half of Van Dyke's passing yards were hauled in by Lewis, who finished with five catches for 80 yards. Hill added 47 yards on three catches.

Jake Dunsbergen collected eight tackles for the Tigerhawk defense and Koenig added six tackles.

Baxter 74, West Central 15

MAYNARD — The Bolts' eight-player era started with a big road win on Friday night.

The Bolts led 46-8 after one quarter and cruised to an easy win over West Central in its eight-player debut.

Senior Braydon Aker threw for 118 yards, rushed for 51 more and accounted for six of the Bolts' 10 touchdowns.

Sophomore Cole Damman hauled in three of Aker's four touchdown passes and added another TD on the ground. Senior Devin Carson scored short TD runs on two of his five carries and gained 42 yards on the ground. Senior Travis Lindemoen added a receiving TD and freshman Kael Johnson tallied a touchdown on the ground.

The Bolts (1-0) scored six times in the first half and only one scoring drive covered more than three plays. They scored in one play once and in two plays three times. Baxter also was 7-of-10 in 2-point conversions.

Baxter's defense forced five turnovers in the game.

Pella Christian 24, PCM 22

PELLA — The Mustangs led 14-10 at halftime, but Pella Christian rallied to a second-half victory at home in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.

PCM junior Reed Worth threw for 264 yards for the Mustangs, but Pella Christian's defense captured two interceptions and held the Mustangs to under 100 yards rushing.

PCM (0-1) scored a touchdown with 1:47 left in the game to get within two, but the Mustangs couldn't convert the 2-point conversion to tie it.

Senior Noah Anderson gave the Mustangs a halftime lead with a 94-yard kickoff return touchdown in the second quarter.

Worth tossed touchdown passes to juniors Isaac Telfer and Preston Van Wyk.

Van Wyk's touchdown catch covered 57 yards. Telfer's TD catch went for 11 yards, and he also had an interception on defense.

Full statistics for the Mustangs were not available at press time.